It wasn't a great game for me because it was too lopsided. It was always close on the score board, but Chicago did nothing on offense besides 1 big running play. Most of the game was the Colts slwoly grinding it up the field.

The 53-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Wayne is the play that changed the game.

It put the Colts on the scoreboard for the first time, but more importantly than that, the Bears were so fearful of getting beat deep again that they essentially played coverage for the rest of the game - despite the inescapable fact that the downpour of rain favored an offensive gameplan of short passing and running the ball.

The 53-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Wayne is the play that changed the game.

It put the Colts on the scoreboard for the first time, but more importantly than that, the Bears were so fearful of getting beat deep again that they essentially played coverage for the rest of the game - despite the inescapable fact that the downpour of rain favored an offensive gameplan of short passing and running the ball.

I agree with you that it was a HUGE play, but don't forget that Bears ended up answering with a TD of their own.

The Colts could fall back on the fact that the biggest reason the Bears scored their single offensive touchdown is because Thomas Jones broke a 52-yard cutback run. This season conditioned them to overcome that mistake and playing on.

This season the Bears never had to deal with the reality of an offense taking their best hit on the chin and still delivering bombs of their own in the first quarter. There wan't anything of the sort in their losses to New England and Miami, the Bears didn't come out anywhere near as strong in the MNF game against the Cardinals, and the last game of the regular season against the Packers was a fluke.

With the Wayne TD and Marvin Harrison's longest catch of the night where he burned a LB covering him across the field, the Bears all but stopped their blitzing thereafter and played it safe for the rest of the rain-soaked night, which ultimately led to Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes having the best statistical performances for the offense. And the gameplan did work in part, the Bears defense managed to limit the Colts offense to field goals instead of touchdowns, and the scoreboard indicated the game was still close in the 4th quarter.

(I actually think that Wayne might have been the most wide open a Colts wide receiver has been all year, pre-season included, on that play. Credit to him for not dropping the ball in that instance, which has happened to receivers that open and playing on that sort of stage.)

The Colts could fall back on the fact that the biggest reason the Bears scored their single offensive touchdown is because Thomas Jones broke a 52-yard cutback run. This season conditioned them to overcome that mistake and playing on.

This season the Bears never had to deal with the reality of an offense taking their best hit on the chin and still delivering bombs of their own in the first quarter. There wan't anything of the sort in their losses to New England and Miami, the Bears didn't come out anywhere near as strong in the MNF game against the Cardinals, and the last game of the regular season against the Packers was a fluke.

With the Wayne TD and Marvin Harrison's longest catch of the night where he burned a LB covering him across the field, the Bears all but stopped their blitzing thereafter and played it safe for the rest of the rain-soaked night, which ultimately led to Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes having the best statistical performances for the offense. And the gameplan did work in part, the Bears defense managed to limit the Colts offense to field goals instead of touchdowns, and the scoreboard indicated the game was still close in the 4th quarter.

(I actually think that Wayne might have been the most wide open a Colts wide receiver has been all year, pre-season included, on that play. Credit to him for not dropping the ball in that instance, which has happened to receivers that open and playing on that sort of stage.)

Dallas Clark vs. the Jags in Indy was pretty wide open...

The Colts seem to have those types of plays more often than any other team. I'm guessing it's because of a play/route that takes advantage of a double team or lack of coverage due to a double team, which the Colts receivers get alot of.